Barney Frank pointed out that when the economy began to collapse in September 2008, the Democrats were willing to help President Bush, but that the Republicans refused to offer any help to President Obama once he took office. That’s true, but let’s ask a different question. Which was a bigger national disaster? The 2008 economic collapse or 9/11?
Because, the Democrats were very deferential to President Bush in the aftermath of 9/11. They certainly did not adopt a strategy of defeating Bush in 2004 at all costs. Most of us fault the Democrats for being too deferential, but they at least recognized that we had suffered a disaster and that we only have one administration at a time. Plus, you couldn’t blame the Democrats for 9/11 in the same way that you could justifiably blame the Republicans for the Great Recession. The Democrats didn’t offer their help to Bush out of guilt, but out of a combination of patriotism and cowardice. The Republicans denied their help to Obama out of pure political calculation.